Rookie

Maybe because of his "shock jock" reputation, he is given a pass because they think that is just what Howard does. But that skit was offensive as hell and what was Mr. Jefferson (actor Sherman Hemsley) doing participating in that crap? Shame on him.

Then again, maybe he gets away with it because of his ethnicity. His tribe tends to be able to get away with more stuff like that than the average WASP can. I mean, just look at Paula Deen and what happened to her career when what she did honestly was nowhere near as bad as that skit. Even back in the '90's -- why did anyone think that was funny or okay? Geez. That is embarrassing. And why did Whoopi not call him out on that? Did she give him a pass because she is Jewish, too? Weird.

Newbie

That's what I meant by pass, because I know that Whoopi remembers this. How can she not? Apparently, Ted and Whoopi used to date and he roasted her in blackface at Friers Club. So, I guess Howard was basically making fun of how stupid Ted and Whoopi roast idea was? I learned what the backstory was after producing this video.

NEW YORK It's a tradition of the celebrity roasts at the Friar's Club that everything goes - that no joke is in such bad taste that it cannot be told. Friday, that tradition may have ended, as a roast for Whoopi Goldberg turned into such a tasteless display that some audience members hid their faces in their hands, and others left.

They cringed in disbelief during the opening monologue by actor Ted Danson, Whoopi's lover, who appeared in blackface and used the word "nigger" more than a dozen times during a series of jokes that drew smaller and smaller laughs, until finally the audience was groaning and Danson faltered as he tried to plow through his written material.

At one point he even ate watermelon.

His performance, the worst train wreck since "The Fugitive," was witnessed by more than 3,000 people filling the ballroom of the New York Hilton hotel at a $250-a-ticket charity benefit by the show biz organization. A blocklong dais featured more than 100 celebrities who sat stoneface through the monologue, including such prominent African Americans as New York Mayor David Dinkins, performers Halle Berry, Vanessa Williams, Anita Baker, RuPaul and Mr. T, and boxers Michael Spinks and Sugar Ray Leonard. A closed-circuit camera showed them looking embarrassed and uncomfortable.

During Danson's monologue, talk show host Montel Williams turned his back to the audience to study the closed-circuit screen. Then he stared at the floor. Next to him, director Gilbert Cates, who helmed the last three Oscarcasts, muttered, "This is terrible. It's way over the line. He's completely lost it." Williams nodded speechlessly, got up and walked off the podium. He later wired Friars chairman Bob Saks, comparing the event to a rally for the Ku Klux Klan or Aryan Nation.

Friar's roasts, which are never taped for telecast, are traditionally raucous and obscene.

But the specter of a white man in blackface repeatedly using the word "nigger" and other strongly coded words seemed to cross a line that was sensed by most of the people in the room. The event demonstrated that the painful history of black-white relations in America is still too sensitive to be joked about crudely. Goldberg, whose real name is Caren Johnson, has used her entire career to try to break down racial stereotyping, and in encouraging Danson's approach she may have thought it would play as satire. But, as stand-up comics say when their material isn't working, he was dying up there.

Perhaps sensing that the material was not working, he lost confidence in his delivery, and his monologue seemed endless. "She dared me to do this," he said at one point. Danson, who played the bartender on TV's "Cheers," has been in a relationship with Goldberg since the two co-starred last year in "Made in America," a comedy about an interracial romance.

Dinkins said later that he was embarrassed and that the jokes "were pretty vulgar and many were way, way over the line."

Goldberg, seated next to Danson, laughed and smiled at the material. Speaking last, she defended her friend: "Let's get these words all out in the open. It took a whole lot of courage to come out in blackface in front of 3,000 people. I don't care if you didn't like it. I did."

Goldberg said in a statement Saturday that she knew what Danson and other speakers were planning and that "made the day particularly fun because these were people who love me.

"If people on the dais and in the audience were not aware of what the day was supposed to consist of, they should have checked to see what the tenor of these roasts are, and then made a decision as to whether or not they wanted to participate."

Black model Beverly Johnson also defended Danson's performance:

"If you can't see the humor at a place where there's supposed to be over-the-line jokes, then there's something really wrong."

Rookie

I didn't know the back story on that one. Maybe she didn't want to bring that up because of Ted Danson and she'd have to defend herself over that one again. So, in light of that, Stern's bit doesn't look that bad. Still in poor taste, but I get why he did it now.

I still don't know why Whoopi wouldn't get upset over Ted Danson doing that. Boyfriend or not, it just isn't funny. I grew up in the South and if my husband joked with me -- even privately -- about me being a redneck or a hillbilly, there would be hell to pay. And Lord help him if he did it in front of others. I don't like those stereotypes because we aren't all like that. And that is nowhere near as bad as blackface and using the N word. What the hell, Whoopi?!

Star

That's what I meant by pass, because I know that Whoopi remembers this. How can she not? Apparently, Ted and Whoopi used to date and he roasted her in blackface at Friers Club. So, I guess Howard was basically making fun of how stupid Ted and Whoopi roast idea was? I learned what the backstory was after producing this video.

NEW YORK It's a tradition of the celebrity roasts at the Friar's Club that everything goes - that no joke is in such bad taste that it cannot be told. Friday, that tradition may have ended, as a roast for Whoopi Goldberg turned into such a tasteless display that some audience members hid their faces in their hands, and others left.

They cringed in disbelief during the opening monologue by actor Ted Danson, Whoopi's lover, who appeared in blackface and used the word "nigger" more than a dozen times during a series of jokes that drew smaller and smaller laughs, until finally the audience was groaning and Danson faltered as he tried to plow through his written material.

At one point he even ate watermelon.

His performance, the worst train wreck since "The Fugitive," was witnessed by more than 3,000 people filling the ballroom of the New York Hilton hotel at a $250-a-ticket charity benefit by the show biz organization. A blocklong dais featured more than 100 celebrities who sat stoneface through the monologue, including such prominent African Americans as New York Mayor David Dinkins, performers Halle Berry, Vanessa Williams, Anita Baker, RuPaul and Mr. T, and boxers Michael Spinks and Sugar Ray Leonard. A closed-circuit camera showed them looking embarrassed and uncomfortable.

During Danson's monologue, talk show host Montel Williams turned his back to the audience to study the closed-circuit screen. Then he stared at the floor. Next to him, director Gilbert Cates, who helmed the last three Oscarcasts, muttered, "This is terrible. It's way over the line. He's completely lost it." Williams nodded speechlessly, got up and walked off the podium. He later wired Friars chairman Bob Saks, comparing the event to a rally for the Ku Klux Klan or Aryan Nation.

Friar's roasts, which are never taped for telecast, are traditionally raucous and obscene.

But the specter of a white man in blackface repeatedly using the word "nigger" and other strongly coded words seemed to cross a line that was sensed by most of the people in the room. The event demonstrated that the painful history of black-white relations in America is still too sensitive to be joked about crudely. Goldberg, whose real name is Caren Johnson, has used her entire career to try to break down racial stereotyping, and in encouraging Danson's approach she may have thought it would play as satire. But, as stand-up comics say when their material isn't working, he was dying up there.

Perhaps sensing that the material was not working, he lost confidence in his delivery, and his monologue seemed endless. "She dared me to do this," he said at one point. Danson, who played the bartender on TV's "Cheers," has been in a relationship with Goldberg since the two co-starred last year in "Made in America," a comedy about an interracial romance.

Dinkins said later that he was embarrassed and that the jokes "were pretty vulgar and many were way, way over the line."

Goldberg, seated next to Danson, laughed and smiled at the material. Speaking last, she defended her friend: "Let's get these words all out in the open. It took a whole lot of courage to come out in blackface in front of 3,000 people. I don't care if you didn't like it. I did."

Goldberg said in a statement Saturday that she knew what Danson and other speakers were planning and that "made the day particularly fun because these were people who love me.

"If people on the dais and in the audience were not aware of what the day was supposed to consist of, they should have checked to see what the tenor of these roasts are, and then made a decision as to whether or not they wanted to participate."

Black model Beverly Johnson also defended Danson's performance:

"If you can't see the humor at a place where there's supposed to be over-the-line jokes, then there's something really wrong."

A perfect example of a sell out. Regardless of if she may have enjoyed herself and the nature of the event '93 was coming off the end of the crack era, the racially motivated war on drugs, etc. It hadn't even been 30 years since a lot of the people in that room still had fresh stories of racism and discrimination. There are a plethora of other crude jokes and choosing black jokes to roast a black person in America when people weren't acknowledging or downplaying, and still don't, racism wasn't just disrespectful or insensitive it was individuals exposing their true selves.